The Path to True Commitment
by pnkpnthr08
Summary: Change has come to Hogwarts and the effects will forge new relationships and alter those previously established. Ginny is facing some serious commitment issues and Draco's all alone in the world. When they accidentally kiss after a wild night in Hogsmeade, Ginny's got some self-discovery to do, but will her relationship with Harry survive?
1. Breaking News

J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention.

* * *

**_Hogwarts to Reopen Doors: Offers Repeat of Last School Year to Students_**

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry gave a press release Monday evening during the Ministry of Magic's latest education meeting. Headmistress McGonagall told reporters, "Hogwarts will indeed be opening its doors in the coming year. A coalition of professors and politicians have come to the agreement that it is in the best interest of the community for the students who attended Hogwarts last school year to repeat the school year in order to learn what they were not allowed to learn the previous two semesters. For those students who were forced into hiding and could not attend Hogwarts last year, we are making an exception and asking that you return to make up your missed time at Hogwarts in the coming school year. While we understand that some of you may not feel Hogwarts is the safest place for your children, we feel we must offer the students who were cheated by the events of the past year this opportunity. Several other schools have offered to take your students in should you wish them to continue their education elsewhere. We have also created a new option for parents who wish to teach their children from home. We have developed a framework of curriculum for parents to use if they wish which is designed to prepare the students to pass the standard end of year exams."_

_Hogwarts staff has spent their summer cleaning up the debris from the battle which took place there last spring. Headmistress McGonagall and the school board have spent much of their time finding new professors and staff to replace those fallen and retired faculty and staff and have filled all of the positions which were left vacant. The article on page 3 entitled "New Professors at Hogwarts" gives a lineup of each of the teaching positions and the professors who will be filling them and discusses their qualifications._

_Hogwarts began sending out letters yesterday to the students who attended last year. However, those students who did not attend cannot be contacted without their express permission due to school guidelines. If you or your child is among the students who did not attend Hogwarts last year or if they were removed from the school before the year was finished and you wish to reenroll at Hogwarts to make up the missed year, please contact Deputy Headmistress Theo Agave before the end of August._

* * *

AN: Thank you for taking the time to read this fanifiction. I have a bit of spare time and I'm just trying to get back to the things I used to enjoy by writing a story. It will brighten my day if you let me know what you think, though, so if you like it (or hate it) please leave me a review! The story starts out a bit slow, I'll admit, but I suspect once my framework is laid and the characters begin to interact a bit more, the story will take off. So please be patient with me.


	2. Waiting

_J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention._

* * *

Ginny and Harry stood hand in hand on the train platform. Harry was holding little Theodore Lupin. Ron and Hermione were cuddled up on a bench off to the side. Molly Weasley was reading the Daily Prophet while Arthur Weasley bought himself a treat from a nearby stall. The train was due any minute. Harry turned his head and watched Ginny's long hair blow gently in the breeze and thought of how lucky he was to get to experience this with her. Ginny realized he was watching her and returned his gaze with a soft smile.

She still couldn't believe that they finally got to be together. Harry had changed though. She felt he was much older than she was after everything was over and it worried her. He had a wisdom about himself that she didn't understand and it caused her to worry that she was too immature for him. Harry never seemed to notice when she said something slightly stupid or insensitive, but she did notice and she worried that it was only a matter of time until he noticed too.

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked lightly bumping his nose to hers.

"Just how blindly in love we are," Ginny replied. It was the most honest answer she could think of without betraying her fear to him. Harry smiled and gave her a quick kiss before wrapping an arm around her waist protectively.

"This is going to be a really good year," he said.

* * *

Draco Malfoy stood alone about halfway down the platform. He stared off into space as he thought of how he'd stood here with his parents the previous year. Tears welled in his eyes as he thought of how unlikely it was that he would ever see either of them again. Perhaps his mother would make it out of Azkaban alive when her sentence was served, but ten years was a really long time to be surrounded by dementors. Harry Potter had saved Draco from the same fate and helped to shorten Narcissa's sentence, but nothing could be done to defend Draco's father.

The only person who hadn't known that prior to his trial was Lucius. He had hired the most expensive lawyer money could buy and worked up an elaborate story of how he'd been blackmailed and compelled, but it was a wasted effort. He'd fooled them once and the wizarding community wasn't about to be fooled a second time. The trial had only lasted a few minutes before the jury declared him guilty and sentenced him to life in Azkaban.

Goyle, being over 17, was not saved from prison time although he was given only a 5 year sentence in Geheena, a smaller prison erected to hold the lesser magical criminals following the war. It had seemed a bit excessive to send everyone to Azkaban regardless of the level of their crimes and they weren't sure Azkaban could hold the number of people it would have needed to.

Most of his previous housemates were dead, imprisoned, or had withdrawn permanently from Hogwarts. The House of Slytherin would be a lonely place for quite some time to come. There were even rumors that they might have removed the house altogether after the problem it had posed in the final battle.


	3. Speculation

_J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention._

* * *

After a few short minutes of waiting, a steaming serpent came into view. Slowly, the serpent came closer and closer until it became the Hogwarts Express. Harry gave Mrs. Weasley an awkward hug given that he was holding Theodore and then handed the baby over to her. He went and shook Mr. Weasley's hand while Ginny hugged her mother and said goodbye. After the well wishes had been shared and the good-byes all said, the two young couples boarded the train and found the 'Granger, Potter, and Weasley' compartment which had been named after and reserved for them. It was loaded with high end snacks and extra comfortable seats with decorative throw pillows and fancy curtains. It was a bit overboard and Ginny was sure Harry wasn't really happy about it. But the school board had done this for him and his best friends and it would be rude to refuse it. Ron gave an excited whistle as he walked in. He immediately began going through the food contents.

"Ooh! Chocolate frogs!" he exclaimed. Hermione attempted to hide her smile.

"That _would_ be what you are most excited about," Hermione exclaimed, "all these expensive truffles and beverages and you notice the run-of-the-mill chocolate frogs." Ginny could see her stern face was about to break into a smile.

"Well! This other stuff is all fancy! I like to eat things that I know what they are!" Ron was already stuffing a chocolate frog in his mouth. Ginny could see the twinkle in his eye that only appeared when he was arguing with Hermione. He enjoyed it far too much in Ginny's opinion.

"Oh, Ron! Honestly, you really expect us to believe that you have discriminating tastes in any form?"

"I hab discwimmmminaing tasss!" Ron replied indignantly, his mouth full of chocolate frog and finger sandwich. Ginny giggled while Harry stifled a snort.

Hermione just threw her hands in the air. She missed the wink Ron shot Harry.

Harry leaned back and relaxed into the corner of one of the benches and Ginny leaned back into him. Harry kissed the top of her head while they watched Ron continue to stuff his face.

There was a buzzing sound and then a voice came out of the air.

" Attention Hogwarts Express passengers! This is your final boarding call! I repeat! This is your final boarding call! The doors to the train will close in one minute and then we will set off on our journey, so any students not on the train need to board now! Thank you!"

"That's new," Ginny remarked.

"I believe we might be in for some surprises this year," Hermione said. She'd said this several times over the past month or so. Ron teased her about being obsessed. Hermione had been following every Daily Prophet article and trying to infer what every little hint McGonagall dropped to the reporters might mean. Ginny suspected Hermione was worried about going back to school after missing a year and was funneling this into knowing all about the school in advance.

"Hermione, I wrote you a book to read about Hogwarts," Ron said handing her a napkin folded in half with writing on the front. Ginny read it upside down.

_Hogwarts: A Future__ by Ron Weasley_

Hermione unfolded it.

_The Only Classes Now Offered: Quidditch, Divination, Magical Fashion, Jim Class_

_Hermione is going to fail! Mwahaha!_

"Ron!" Hermione said and smacked his arm. Ginny finished reading and laughed.

"Can I see it, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Yes, and gym is G Y M, Ron," Hermione replied haughtily.

Harry read it, wadded it up, and threw it at Ron, "I don't want to take a fashion class or Divination! What is wrong with you!"

_Bzzz_, "Passengers! We are now leaving Platform Nine and Three Quarters! We may be facing some stormy weather along the way so please stay close to your seats! Thank you and have an enjoyable trip!"

Ron and Hermione continued to play fight, but Ginny and Harry ignored them and went to sleep. They'd taken care of baby Teddy the night before and were quite exhausted. Ginny woke up to the sound of buzzing and warning about a storm, but quickly went back to sleep when she realized they weren't there yet.

After what seemed like a few minutes, the announcer voice came back, "Passengers, we will be arriving at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shortly. First years and repeat first years, find Hagrid on the south end of the platform! We thank you for riding the Hogwarts Express, ask that you be sure to not leave any items or trash on the train, dress in your school robes, and have a wonderful year!"

Ginny sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around. Harry and Ron were awake and it seemed they'd been talking for a while. Hermione was passed out on Ron's shoulder. Ginny would have been willing to bet that Hermione hadn't been able to sleep the night before. Luckily, they had all changed before the train had even arrived and Hermione could be allowed to sleep a little longer… but Hermione was waking up.

"Ah, the dead one rejoins the living!" Ron announced spotting Hermione's open eyes.

"Mmm…" was her only verbal reply, but she smacked his leg to add emphasis, "What did I miss?"

"Just a really awesome storm and the announcement that we're almost to Hogwarts," Harry told her.

"I heard the rain, but it was so relaxing, I just couldn't stay awake," Hermione admitted.

They all stood up and started gathering their things together so they'd be easy to get off the train. After forming a pile of trunks and a few other items, they all sat back down to wait.

"What do you think they're going to do about the lack of Slytherins?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure. When I went to the lavatory earlier, someone said that they thought they were just going to get rid of the house and resort them… I really hope we don't get Malfoy," said Ron making a face.

Ginny felt she had to pipe in about that. She replied, "I don't think they can do that… They will probably lose the rest of the Slytherins to Durmstrang if they do…"

"I don't think they will either," Harry agreed, "Honestly, I don't think the board would be willing to break so many years of tradition. They probably will leave all of the houses intact."

The announcer voice interrupted Hermione's opinion on the matter, "Attention passengers! We are now arriving at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Please remove all personal belongings. These will be placed outside of the train on the trolleys to the west end of the landing in order to be sorted and delivered to your living quarters for the year! Please remove all rubbish. There are bins to place it in within the main aisle of the train. Any compartments found with rubbish will result in points lost! Thank you for travelling the Hogwarts Express and have a marvelous school year!"

* * *

AN: Thanks again for reading!


	4. A Little Less Lonely

_J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention._

* * *

Draco dragged his feet a little as he left his compartment. He'd had it all to himself for the entire trip. He was getting used to being alone though. Being an only child, he was more than capable of entertaining himself. Since his parents had been locked away, the only interaction he'd had with people was when he went shopping. The Malfoy house elf served as halfway decent company, however. She was much too polite and submissive to be like a person, but she was better than talking to himself. Her name was Isis and Draco was sure she'd be lonely while he was gone away. Possibly even as lonely as he was… He dragged his trunk down the aisle of the train to the door and stepped out. The platform was more crowded than usual what with the added year's worth of students.

Draco's eyes quickly traveled to the castle and he noted that from such a distance, everything appeared to be back in place… They had done some serious magic to repair all of the damage. His attention was broken when someone ran into him. He held back his first instinct to tell them to watch where they were going and apologized instead for standing in the way. Ginny Weasley gave him the strangest look as she walked around him, her moss green eyes shadowed by her puzzled brow. She shook her head and headed over to the luggage trolley.

Draco laughed internally at the way such a simple thing could ruin someone's idea of who they thought he was. They didn't know him in the least and he had always enjoyed making sure that no one ever really did. He rolled his trunk along behind him and released his owl from its cage to go hang out in the owlery with the other owls. The trunk and cage were carefully placed in a tray on the trolley. Tags instantly appeared on both his trunk and cage bearing his name in swirly black letters. He went to grab a carriage and hopped on into the first empty one he found. This would put him in a position of superiority over whomever joined him.

"Hello, Draco," a blonde haired girl said as she climbed up into the carriage with him. It was Luna Lovegood, the girl he'd been forced to hold in his basement when Voldermort was alive and his father was free.

"Don't worry, I don't hold any grudges with you," she said kindly, as though she could hear his thoughts.

So much for his superiority idea… another girl from Ravenclaw soon joined them with a couple of her friends. They were either fourth or fifth years, he wasn't sure which.

"You're Draco Malfoy aren't you?" one of the girls asked, "Is it true that you saved Harry Potter's life? Harry is just so dreamy! It's too bad that Ginny bitch snagged him up."

"I know!" another of the girls screeched with wide eyes.

"And who are you," Draco sneered coldly. He knew, but he wasn't going to admit that to them.

"I'm Angie, this is Gaela, and this is Wendy," the loudest of the three told him, "We're in Ravenclaw."

"The sorting hat believed you three were intelligent?" he saw the girls getting angry and knew they'd leave soon enough.

"You did not just call me stupid," the girl Angie had called Gaela declared, her eyes gone stony with anger.

"Correct. I just insinuated it."

"You are just asking to be hexed, you jerk!" Wendy replied.

"Let's just go find another carriage. We don't have to put up with this," Angie, the obvious leader of the group, announced pulling on their robes' tails. And so the stupid silly little girls left his carriage to him and just the crazy girl.

"That was nice of you," Luna commented, "I know you didn't do that for me, but I appreciate it nonetheless. They always like to tease me."

"No problem," Draco said biting back the insult his tongue was trying to spit at her.

"Ginny is actually quite a good friend, but I didn't think they'd take such comments well from me since most people find me so odd. I don't mind that they do, but I do sometimes wish that I could be taken more seriously."

This girl was so strange, she was right about that, but she was entirely honest too. Draco could see why Potter and his friends liked her.

"I can't wait for the announcements tonight. I'm really curious to see what sorts of changes will be implemented…" Luna added in a soft sing-songy voice.

"Do you have any ideas of what they might change?" Draco replied, giving in to her strange charm. He could talk to her without worrying about anyone believing her if she told them that she'd spoken with him.

"Oh no, I don't. Several of the people on the train seemed to think they would change the sorting of the Slytherins, but that seems a little too specific to me. I suspect the changes are to be more academic."

"I've tried to not let myself get too focused on what the rumors are…" Draco replied thinking of how if he had had people to talk to, he would have happily let himself get focused on the rumors, "I suspect they might mess with the sorting of the first years. I cannot see them getting away with resorting those who were already sorted into Slytherin… I suspect we will gain a couple of classes, however. Something a bit more focused on dueling and survival skills."

"You may be right about that, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco found Luna quite easy to talk to. She didn't judge anything he said and seemed to understand what he meant even when the words didn't come out quite right. However, it was a bit creepy how well she understood him and seemed to be able to read his mind. No one ever got close enough to know him so well except his mother… But that was just one of Luna's quirks from what he'd heard from anyone else who'd ever spoken with her.

They chatted about their predictions of the changes at Hogwarts for the entire ride to the school. Too soon, it seemed, the carriage came to a stop and Luna hopped out leaving him alone again. He followed her and joined the sea of students walking to the Great Hall. It seemed the same, but there was a house where the oaf's hut had once been and a barn attached to it. As the doors to the Great Hall opened in front of them, the students towards the front let out a gasp.

The banners to announce which house belonged to which tables were gone. The tables had been replaced with about 30 round tables. Each table had a number and a letter in the center and each place setting had a name card. It would have been chaos had the professors not anticipated it and been at the ready to aid the students.


	5. Changes

_J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention._

* * *

Ginny walked into the Great Hall to find it much different. She noticed that not only had they changed the tables and removed the house colors, the four house cup vials had been replaced with eight vials, each with 1 through 7 shimmering upon the front. Ginny was the last in line of the four, so she heard Professor Flitwick tell Ron to find his place at 7C. Hermione went to 7B and Harry was sent to table 7D. Ginny was directed to 6B. She hoped that meant she'd be at least nearby the trio.

She walked slowly over to the table, her eyes scanning for clues about what might be going on. As she approached her table, she saw that it was nearly filled already. She was excited to see that Luna would be in her group, along with a Hufflepuff boy named William and a Slytherin girl named Jessica. She took her place and said hello politely to everyone. Jessica seemed to be contemplating whether she should be nice or practice some of her Slytherin charm on the non-Slytherins. She seemed to decide to hold her tongue instead and just gave Ginny a slight nod.

The room was almost eerily silent other than the sounds of students finding their places. Ginny guessed that everyone was so thrown off that they preferred to just wait until the headmistress explained everything to them before trying to make conversation with the near strangers around them. Ginny stood back up to look at the names of the students who had not joined them yet. There were two- both boys. Bertram Silver, a fellow Gryffindor, and Stephan Dean, a Ravenclaw. All of her table mates were sixth years, which explained the numbering system partially. Now to find out what the letters were for…

After another quarter of an hour, all of the tables except for the tables at the front with the number 1 placed upon them were filled. The deputy headmistress, Professor Agave, a beautiful woman with dark features and fair complexion, stood and made her way out the main doors to fetch the first years. She glided back in with them after only a moment or two and led the nervous young children and less nervous repeat first years to the stage. One by one, she called their names in a barely recognizable accent- maybe greek?

Each student was assigned a table number and letter by the hat. It didn't take the hat very long to decide for each student, which made Ginny wonder if there was any system at all besides just sorting them to a place at a table in their year's section. As the students tables were called, the blank place cards filled themselves in with their names. When the last child was sorted, the Headmistress stood from her place at the faculty table and made her way to the podium.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts! We are quite pleased to be looking on at such a promising young group of witches and wizards and are thankful to have you joining or returning to this place of magic, wonder, and ancient traditions. Some of these ancient traditions, due to the problems that have arisen because of them, have been altered to fit a new generation. While tradition is all well and good, the school board has come to the conclusion that some of our traditions need to be modernized."

"As a result, the houses have been disbanded at least temporarily and we will be placing you with people who are not all like you to begin with. We believe that placing such diverse personalities together will result in more unique graduates and more learning opportunities for our current students. As you may have realized, we have placed you at tables based simply upon your year, but you probably don't understand what the letters next to the numbers are for. We have four dormitories, as you are probably already aware, and therefore we are forced to divide you up somehow. Because of this, we have placed you, somewhat randomly, in different dormitories. For those of you with the letter A upon your table, you will be living in the old Gryffindor dormitories. B will go to the Hufflepuff dormitories. C is in the Ravenclaw dormitories and D is in the Slytherin dormitories. We have placed you with people who share your class schedule and thus those of you at each table are sitting near your constant companions for the rest of the school year. The only ones you will be able to get away from are those of the opposite sex as they will have a different bedroom than you do. This may sound like a terrible idea to you now, but we suspect that by the end of the year, you will all be close friends."

"You will find many other changes to Hogwarts as the week progresses, but I will go ahead and introduce you to the major ones, we have several new professors and a few past professors who have chosen not to retire. Hogwarts new transfiguration teacher will be Professor Agave. To her right is Professor Slughorn, whom most of you are already acquainted with. He will continue to instruct in the art of potions. Next, we have Professor Hagrid, he will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures, which will be taught alongside Ancient Runes. For Ancient Runes and Charms, you will continue to be instructed by Professor Flitwick. Muggle Studies will be taught by Professor Weiss, who will do a week course on Divination as Christmas approaches. For History of Magic, Professor Binns is training his replacement, Professor Hardt."

Ginny lost focus after this and stared off into space for a little while, until she realized that Professor McGonagall was telling them it was time for them to eat.


	6. Bonding

Disclaimer:

_J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention._

* * *

Draco had just endured his first of many awkward dinners with his new tablemates. He, of course, knew no one very well. He'd bullied at least three of them over his Hogwarts career and he was pretty sure that Granger girl hated him. This was going to be a long year. At least, he'd noticed, he was going to be housemates with Luna. He might actually have someone to talk to, even if she was crazy…

As soon as they were dismissed, Granger ran over to the young Weasley girl and they began acting like girls tended to when they were excited. It was just what he needed- the girlfriends of Weasley and Potter living anywhere near him. Weasley and Potter would always be around to ruin any form of peace he might be able to find...

Professor Sprout had not retired, but she apparently had some reservations about being a head of house to any house but Hufflepuff and therefore left the task to a new professor, Professor Hardt. Hardt was a wiry looking man, full of energy, and quite bookish. He was fairly tall and had a hooked nose which held up thick glasses. His dull brown hair stuck up in the back and Draco doubted he even cared. His robes were in disarray and he bounced when he was trying to stand still. How he ever managed to read a book, Draco couldn't guess.

"Right this way, young B's," Professor Hardt said cheerfully once they had all gathered outside the Great Hall. He led them directly towards the kitchens and Draco began to wonder if the man was going to take them all for a snack before finding their rooms. Before he reached the portrait with the pear, however, Hardt stopped at a small, earthy looking doorway. Draco didn't remember having ever noticed it before…

"Here, is where the entrance to the Hufflepuff house used to stand. The protection from fellow schoolmates entering has been removed from all of the houses in hopes that you, the students, will visit your classmates and friends in other common rooms as well. However, there will now be passwords to get into the dormitories. There are also guards against students of the opposite sex entering the wrong dormitories. Someone pointed out that it was a bit sexist to only place them upon the girls' dormitories as they were before. If you wish to get someone's attention, we have placed this calling device between the two dormitory entrances. You may use it to alert the attention of whomever you need. I shall leave you here with only the passwords- boys, _badger badger_. Girls, your password is _Snake! It's a snake!_ I came up with them! What do you think? I stole them from an entertaining muggle video that I saw over the summer. It was quite humorous, I thought."

This man was off his kilter. He even sang these strange, stupid passwords! Draco intended to 'leak' them to some of the other houses as soon as possible so they would have to change them. Who took passwords from muggles? What an imbecilic idea. What happened to intelligent passwords from spells or potions and such? Draco was done with the tour, whether or not Professor Hardt stopped giving it. He went straight to the boys' hole and gave it the stupid password. He crawled through the small round opening and wondered why they'd even bothered to put doors on them. He supposed Helga Hufflepuff had found it humorous to treat her students like stupid little badgers… If they were going to treat the students like animals, they shouldn't care when they tried to commit animal acts. After walking around the dark, earthy tunnels for what seemed like an hour, he finally found his room and bed. Even the room's walls and floor seemed to be made of dirt… it was disgusting. He crawled into the warm four poster bed fully clothed and pulled the quilt over his head.

About an hour later, his two roommates joined him. Draco pretended to be asleep so that they wouldn't disturb him. They walked in rather quietly, checked to see that his eyes were closed, and began whispering to one another.

"This is going to be a long year," remarked one of them. Draco thought it might be the Gryffindor kid who was good at blowing things up.

"I don't think the sorting hat would have put us with him if it didn't think we could all be friends," the other one replied. It had to be Grant from Hufflepuff. He was the only one of the three of them stupid enough to believe that.

"You actually think they let the poor hat sort anyone this year? They just threw all of our names onto a list and hoped everything would work out if they told us they'd planned it! We go and put our lives at risk to save cowards like him, and _this_ is how they repay us. I bet Harry got a much better group- probably no Slytherins at all!"

"I doubt that we are being shafted, Seamus, Hermione is in our group after all. After all she did, they wouldn't put her in the odd group out."

"Oh, but they didn't! The girls in our group are Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. She may not have known them well, but they aren't Slytherins at least. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight with him in here!"

"Well talking about him isn't going to make him like you more. And Malfoy's always been more bark than bite… without his minions, he's probably much less dangerous. I'm going to sleep, you can stay awake all night and watch him, but I'm intending to attend advanced potions tomorrow and actually be capable of focusing. So good night, Finnegan."

"Good night. I can't wait to see which limbs I'm missing in the morning!"

After being shown to her house- or whatever she was supposed to call it, Ginny joined Hermione, Luna, Hannah Abbott, and Mandy Brocklehurst in the common room to play a game of cards and get to know each other a little better.

Ginny already knew Hannah, she'd been in the D.A. and they were acquaintances if not friends. However, Ginny had never really spoken to Mandy before. She was nice enough, Ginny supposed, but she was a bit silly, even after everything that had happened…

Several rounds of poker later, Jessica decided to join them. She must have felt out of place, Ginny reasoned in order to ignore her negative comments.

"Are you girls _really_ playing this _foul_ muggle card game? Why not play 'Nutters' instead?"

"What's that?" Hermione, the only muggle-born of the group, asked.

"Only the best wizard's card game ever invented! We'll need a different deck though… Basically, each player is dealt their cards and then they have to create card families of certain creatures. You can trade cards, but some cards change after they've been traded. It's impossible to tell which ones will. If you put down the wrong card when trying to make a group, your tongue swells up so you can't talk right. If anyone else notices and calls you a 'nutter', you are out of the game," Jessica answered.

"I've got a deck!" Mandy said excitedly before taking off to go get it from her trunk.

"After that, we'll have to play some more muggle games too," Hannah said, barely hiding her distaste for the game Jessica suggested.

"Only if you all give this one a real try first," Jessica replied bit too quickly. She obviously believed they'd all love the game so much they wouldn't want to stop playing.

"We should make this strip 'Nutter'," Luna input simply, "It would make us all feel more of a girlish bond."

Ginny cringed at the thought of all of the attention that might bring about, but she knew Luna was right- it would make them all feel closer to one another.

"I like it!" Mandy said coming back through the little hole to the girls' bedrooms, "It's more fun with boys involved though. I'll go get the boys!"

"Make sure you force Draco out of bed! He'll be sulking as usual," Jessica shouted after her, "Tell him I said he had to!"

It didn't take her long to convince them all to join. The potential for naked girls was hard to turn down, Ginny supposed. Harry and Ron wouldn't like it, but this was girl bonding time and boys for them to team up against would make it so much more effective.

Draco Malfoy, Seamus Finnegan, Eduardo Grant, William Jax, Bertram Silver, and Stephan Dean emerged rather sleepily from the boys' dorms. Draco looked rather annoyed to have to be there, but that could have just been the look he always wore, as far as Ginny really knew.

Jessica and Mandy together might be trouble, she thought. The boys all joined them at the large study table they had commandeered earlier in the evening, sat down, and began to lazily stretch and yawn. Silver just laid his head back into his arms.

It didn't take long for Mandy to remove the deck of cards and pass nine out to each player.

"One rule," Hermione stated, "Any piece of clothing covering parts that would get us expelled if it was removed in the common room stays on."

They all agreed- Seamus and Silver a bit reluctantly.


	7. Tossing of the Dice

Disclaimer:

_J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention._

* * *

Ginny was pleasantly surprised by everyone in both parties. All of the people around her table were avoiding hurling insults at each other. Had this happened before the war, she had to believe that things would have been very different. Even Malfoy, whom she knew loved to pick on most of the people in the group, was laughing and joining in on the fun. He was even being _pleasant_!

Soon they realized that this game wasn't really a good stripping game. It took way too much time between 'Nutters' for anyone to really have to take off any clothing. All that had happened within about twenty minutes was that Luna lost an earring and Grant lost a shoe. Finally they switched to a dice game Mandy suggested. When a double was rolled, the player who rolled it got to make a rule and then roll again. Each rule could be whatever the player wished it to be. If they didn't like a previous rule, they could make a rule to negate it.

"I'll go first, since it was my idea," Mandy said, "but we should alternate boy then girl so we don't have one sex making all of the rules right off the bat. They all readjusted their seating and Mandy threw the dice.

She rolled a one and a two. Malfoy was next, and rolled a four, consisting of two twos. Ginny watched his features lighten a bit and almost detected a smile. It was ridiculous what a little competition could do to boys! Before he could fully show that ghosted smile, his mouth snaked into a grin.

"First rule- for every six rolled, the dice thrower must remove one item of clothing," he stated. Ginny was just waiting for the rules to become more sexist. It was only a matter of time. Draco rolled again but didn't roll doubles or a six.

Next, Jessica was up. She rolled a three and a six and removed a bracelet. She was wearing three.

Then, Seamus rolled… a double five. The boys were getting the earliest signs of cocky- she could see it in their eyes.

"My rule is… whenever I have to take anything off, my good friend Hermione has to take something off too," he stated after just a few seconds of thought.

"Ron's going to love that, mate," Hermione warned. Seamus looked a little worried, but didn't try to retract his rule.

"He'll get over it. It's just a bit of fun, Hermione. Just relax and enjoy yourself!" Ginny told her.

Ginny was next. She rolled and got a five and a two. Silver followed her with a four and a six. He removed his shirt right off the bat even though he was wearing shoes, some weird sweatband thing, and a necklace he could have taken any of them off first. Hermione rolled a double six and looked sick.

"Do I make my rule before or after I take off my clothing?" she asked. After a minute of deliberation, they decided that the rule came after the clothing loss. Hermione removed both of her shoes.

"My rule is that whenever a two is rolled, I get to decide who takes off a piece of clothing or I can put one back on," she said with partial nerves and partial smugness. Only Hermione could be insecure and overconfident at the same time…

Grant followed Hermione with a two and a six, which was quickly followed by a groan of frustration. He slipped off his watch.

"So… who shall I punish?" Hermione mused, "I can't get Seamus, or I'd have to remove more of my own clothing, so… I choose- you, Silver. You seem to want to get naked." And he seemingly did; this time he removed his pants to reveal white boxer briefs with little hearts all over them. Ginny covered her mouth, just to pretend to hide the laughter that escaped her lips.

"Don't laugh at my underthings!" he told them pretending to be angry and covering himself as if he were modest. Ginny suspected he'd changed just for the game.

"Alright, Grant- you're up," Jessica stated, trying to move the game along.

Grant rolled a double six and the sexist fun began.

"Rule number whatever: Whenever one of us fine men is to remove clothing, you girls will all remove one article of clothing each."

"Grant, I don't like you anymore," Hannah told him.

"I like you though, mate," William said slapping him on the back, "We don't want to see any naked men, we'd rather see some beautiful female curves."

"If only we could find some men, we could get them naked and enjoy the view," Mandy taunted.

Luna picked up the abandoned dice and spun herself around in circles for a few seconds. She then lightly flicked each die into the air so that it came spiraling down onto the table… Only Luna… She rolled- or rather flicked- a three and a six. She removed her remaining earring.

"What good luck to only get a six," Luna said in her dreamlike way.

"However you want to look at it," Mandy replied with a slight eye roll. Luckily, Ginny was pretty sure Luna had missed it.

After Luna's turn was William's. He didn't roll anything important. Then Hannah rolled a two and a three.

"Sorry, Ginny," Hermione said. Ginny removed a shoe.

Stephan was the first to cause Grant's rule to take effect when he rolled a one and a six.

He removed his shoes and the girls each removed something- socks and shoes and jewelry mostly. Only Luna removed anything more scandalous, but it was just her cardigan.

No one rolled anything important until it came around to Ginny. She rolled a double three.

"My rule is that anytime a girl has to remove anything, you boys all have to remove two articles of clothing," she decided. The boys all groaned a little, but Ginny could see both the boys and the girls starting to feel more of a camaraderie with each other.

* * *

After a short time of playing the dice game, Draco happily noted that everyone was down to just their clothing and that all of the extra layers and jewelry and such was removed. One more dice throw and the girls would lose the rest. Of course, the boys would too- and then have to run around the common room singing a song of their choice… but it might be worth it to embarrass the girls a bit.

He still didn't feel like anyone in the group was a potential new best friend or anything, but he felt like he might at least slightly enjoy their company. Finnegan had even slapped him on the back when he'd created the rule that the girls remove two pieces of clothing instead of just one. At least they weren't complete losers- they knew how to have a bit of fun. He probably wouldn't get very close with anyone, it wasn't his way. He always had distant friends who did what he said and followed his orders, but he would never open up and share anything personal with them. Secrets that were shared weren't secrets anymore, after all. And caring too much about others was a weakness- his father had drilled that in from a very young age.

Finally, at the very end of a round where nothing had happened, Dean rolled a six and a three. Dean removed his t-shirt and the girls removed their shirts and bottoms. Malfoy's eyes couldn't help but appreciate the view. He noticed that Weasley's skin turned red when she was embarrassed and saved it for future teasing.


	8. Class

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns anything you can google and find connected to Harry Potter in any way. Anything else is probably my own invention.

* * *

The following day was a long one for Draco. He had expected to be competing against Hermione the entire day, but instead they ended up working together.

Their first class was potions, with Professor Slughorn. There were only three other groups in the class: the sixth years from his house, Potter and Zabini's group, and the sixth years from A. Draco gave a bit of a smirk when he realized that Seamus and Eduardo (Grant) were wrong about Potter being given special treatment- he'd been grouped with two Slytherins, two Ravenclaws, one Hufflepuff, and one other Gryffindor, who was a girl.

Draco remembered his sixth year and how good at brewing potions Potter had suddenly become and he decided that he would show him up this year. Hermione seemed to harbor the same goal and they quickly took over their table to accomplish the task.

After a few minutes of following the book to its every word (thanks to Hermione- not that Draco was complaining), Brocklehurst chimed in and told them that her father always brewed the potion with a little sprig of mint as well to make it slightly more powerful. Hermione was against it, but Draco tossed it in while she was looking away. It immediately released a powerfully minty scent into the room. Hermione whirled around with a glare, but before she could show her anger, Professor Slughorn came bounding over.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Who ever told you that a sprig of mint was just the key?" Hermione paled a bit, but kept her mouth shut.

"My father, sir," Brocklehurst replied.

"Ah! I should have known! Your father still works in the Deadly Draughts Department, I presume?"

"Yes he does," she replied brightly, "He just got promoted to Head of Department."

"Wonderful, my dear. You all have done well to take advantage of Ms. Brocklehurst's additional knowledge," Slughorn said cheerfully before traipsing away to deal with an explosion of smoke from the A sixth years' cauldron. Maybe this girl wasn't as light in the head as Draco had thought.

"What if she'd been wrong!?" Hermione whispered violently to the group when Slughorn was out of earshot.

"Then we'd have started over," the Hufflepuff girl, Hannah, told her, "It's not like we've done too much to catch up yet."

"Why can't we just follow what's in the book? If the potions needed extra ingredients, they would have said so!" Granger said, still working herself up over it. She threw in a lovely glare to Draco just for emphasis.

"There are always little tricks and tips. If it gets us a better grade to follow them, I don't see a problem with using them," Draco replied, "Maybe we should figure them all out this year and you can write a better book." Hermione's glare slipped off her face and was replaced with a pensive scowl instead.

She'd probably never forgive him for breaking her imaginary rules, but at least he'd almost showed her up… or, Mandy had anyways.

* * *

Ginny's day was going quite well, their first class, Potions, had been a mild success- their potion, while not the best in class, was correct and earned them two points to their house. Hermione's group had done the best and earned their house another ten. Ginny couldn't complain about that and she knew Hermione was freakishly intelligent, so she'd expected it from the start.

Following Potions, her small group had Alchemy with a new professor. He was a shorter man, a good head below Ginny's chin, with scars covering most of the left side of his face. His eyes were a piercing molten silver color and his skin was slightly yellowed. There were about 7 other groups in this class of various ages, but the majority was made up of first years. Ginny had never bothered with Alchemy in the past and was not surprised that they'd stuck her with first years.

"Hello, class," he began, "My name is Professor Herme, and you are here to learn the art of Alchemy. Later in the year, we will switch to Arithmancy. Since these courses were not previously required and none of you ever elected to take them, we will be starting with the basics. Alchemy is sort of an advanced form of Charms and Transfiguration, but we will stick to the basic theory behind it for this year. In the years to come, we will pursue these subjects in a more hands-on manner."

"I'm sure you have all heard stories of historic alchemists trying to make gold from other metals, but most of them never achieved it. Muggle alchemists were at an extreme disadvantage and often messed with elements that were beyond their non-magical abilities to control. Their history books have been rewritten to make their deaths seem to be of other causes, however. Alchemy is a highly dangerous field! The scars on my face and the tone of my skin is from a mixture gone bad when I was starting out. One of the ingredients I used had a bit of cotton lint stuck to it and the water I made from silk nearly killed me. So, we must be extremely cautious when practicing and always test your concoctions on either a test rat or dirt before you kill yourself or ruin an artifact."

Alchemy was quite interesting. Ginny was quickly engrossed in the discussion of turning air and water into fire. It seemed a bit stupid, really, when she could just make enchanted fire out of nothing, but it was still extremely thought provoking.

The remainder of the day flew by- Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy. Her classes had been made much more entertaining by letting each task be done in her group rather than alone and she felt that their combined knowledge provided each of them with a much deeper understanding of the material than if they'd been working alone.

* * *

It had been fine working together in potions, but the imbecile teachers all seemed to be trying to make them work in groups on _everything_! It didn't make any sense to waste his time explaining things to others when he could just get right down to it and bury himself in his work- _alone_. Professor Sprout was quickly becoming his favorite professor. She had ignored the movement to force the groups to work together and had conducted her classroom exactly as she would have if the houses and class schedules hadn't changed.

Their last class of the day, Astronomy, finally arrived and the professor put the sixth and seventh year teams from each house together since she had all of them. The star charts she handed them to look over were nothing complicated and the group immediately jumped into the easy manner they'd had the previous evening. Towards the end of the class, Mandy came up with a suggestion.

"We should all go to Hogsmeade tonight!" she exclaimed, "some of my old Ravenclaw friends are taking their group and they told me I could bring whoever I want to."

Most of the group quickly agreed, but Draco really didn't want to spend his evening with a bunch of Ravenclaws. In his experience, most acted superior to everyone else just because they were supposedly intelligent. He couldn't stand it.

"Thank you for asking, but Ginny and I can't go," Hermione told Mandy, "Harry and Ron asked us to hang out tonight… and I don't think they'll want to be a part of a group."

"And I really don't feel up to it," Draco lied, "I must've gotten hit with one of those Pygmy things at Hagrid's."

Jessica scowled at him, but he ignored it.

"I have to write to my father tonight about the nargals," Luna told them, "I saw some interesting ones this morning in Alchemy."

After class, Draco made off for the common room where he intended to spend the evening with a book. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna followed him.


	9. One on One

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything you recognize and probably some things you don't (like a few of the characters).

* * *

**AN:** _I just want to thank my reviewers and followers. I appreciate it immensely. In response to my last reviewer, I had to laugh a bit when I read your review about the lack of Harry and Ginny time as I was halfway through writing this chapter at the time. I believe it will answer the question you posed._

_Again, I want to apologize for the lazy pace. I hope it will speed up as I get more comfortable with writing again. Thanks for being so patient and thank you all for taking the time to read my work. Knowing how many other options there are to read on this site and the rest of the internet, each person who takes the time to read even a chapter is a personal miracle IMO._

_Sorry for the long intro- I know I always hate reading author's notes so I'll try to keep these to a minimum. Thanks again!_

* * *

Ginny followed Hermione through the badger hole into the hallway to the girls' dormitories.

"Come to my room and we can get ready together," Ginny told her. Hermione made a face.

"I don't need to do anything special to get ready," she argued, "Ron and I are just going for a walk!"

"Well, I want to doll myself up and I would like some company while I do it," Ginny replied.

"You mean you want to doll me up and insist you are just testing a color out," Hermione accused with a pointed stare.

"Maybe, but you're ruining my guilt trip. Just join me. It'll make me so happy."

And Hermione, as always, did just that. Ginny dressed her in a white, lacy camisole and a brown little jacket to keep her warm in the September breeze. She combined this with a knee length white skirt and even convinced Hermione to let her do her hair and loosened her ringlets until they were gorgeous ringlets rather than a bushy mess of curls.

Ginny then threw herself together in about five minutes. She wore a silky light green top with long sleeves and a pair of jean shorts. She spelled her stick straight hair into loose waves and let it cascade down her back.

She knew simple was better, so she left Hermione's jewelry alone, pearl earrings and nothing else and popped in a couple of small studded imitation diamond earrings- she'd lose the real thing if she ever tried to wear it- and a simple silver necklace with a metal rose charm hanging from it. She quickly spritzed some of her favorite perfume on herself and charmed Hermione's into the room to spritz her as well.

Magic was the girl's greatest beauty tool and they were ready twenty minutes after entering Ginny's room. When they returned to the common room, Draco and Luna were chatting on the couch and Ron and Harry were waiting at a table for them. The rest of their groups were crowded around them trying to convince them to join them on their Hogsmeade trip.

"You both look gorgeous," Luna told the girls when they came through the earthy little opening into the common room.

"Thank you, Luna," Ginny told her. Hermione just gave a little blush.

"We can't convince these two to let you girls join us tonight!" Jessica told them pouting her lips.

"Trust me, Aella, you're very convincing, but we already have plans," Harry told her.

"You said that, but hanging out with us would be so much more fun!" she said manipulatively.

"We had other things in mind," Ron said, "I haven't gotten a good make-out session in with Mione in a whole day now!"

"Ron!" Hermione balked, "I told you that sort of thing is private!"

"You really can't blame me, Mione. I'm losing my mind! It's been so long since I last kissed those sweet lips!"

"Have you been drinking?"

"No, he hasn't. We came here straight from Astronomy after one of the girls in Ron's group stopped bugging me about everything," Harry told her.

"Are you ready to go?" Ginny asked Harry sidling up next to him and touching his arm gently.

"Yeah, let's leave these two to argue over levels of appropriateness," Harry replied with a smile.

"Bye, everyone! Don't worry if I'm out late," Ginny proclaimed as she and Harry left.

"You'd better not be!" Ron yelled after her. She just grinned at Harry.

"You're going to get me in trouble," he told her once they were out of earshot.

"I'm just going to get Ron to learn to realize that I'm a grown woman and I can make my own decisions."

"Really? Because I have some great ideas of things you could do to show how much of an adult you are," he told her mischievously.

"I'm sure you do, Harry."

They walked arm in arm to the lake, where they cuddled up in between the roots of a large tree.

"I missed you, you know," Harry told her stealing a kiss.

"I missed you too," she replied, although she felt like that wasn't quite the truth. She realized then that she had missed him, but really not _that_ much… It had been just slightly over twenty-four hours since they'd been cuddled up on the train. She'd seen him in both her first and last class of the day and had quick little chats with him both times…

"It's going to be weird not having you around all the time and having to share you with so many other people." He stretched his legs out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap.

"It's just weird coming back to school. I feel like we all should have graduated by now… like we're all older than we really are," she told him nuzzling into him like a cat.

"I know, but maybe this will help us all return to the children and young adults we are supposed to still be."

"Wouldn't that be nice if it would actually work?"

Harry cupped her chin in his hand and brought her lips to his.

"As long as you're here with me, I'm the happiest school boy you'll ever meet," he told her while they broke apart for a second. Ginny hated to admit it, but Harry wasn't the best kisser in the world. However, he was the sweetest and most loving man she had met and she was her perfect match. He would be a great father- he'd already shown that with Teddy, he would take care of her and would always put her needs above his own. And she _was_ attracted to him. What more could she possibly ask for?

Draco watched Ginny and Harry leave and then Ron and Hermione. Soon the rest of his tablemates and the sixth years were preparing to go as well. Jessica came over and tried to convince him to go, but he insisted again that he felt tired and a little sick. Finally, they left him in peace with only a book and Luna Lovegood for company.

She sat there and read some magazine upside down. After reading the same sentence about four times, he decided he would stop reading and talk to Luna instead. He closed the book and placed it on a small end table. Luna looked up at him curiously.

"Did you already finish that book?" she asked.

"No, I couldn't. The lines started blurring together," he replied, "What are you reading?"

"Just my father's publication, _The Quibbler_. He's written something to me in code in the article about kerflumpers."

"Does he often send you hidden messages in such a way?"

"Almost always. He rarely sends mail by owl."

"Is that why you're reading it upside down?"

"Oh no. I do that because it makes it more interesting, I think. Also, it is a great mental exercise. I'm surprised you asked, Draco. Most people just avoid the subject because they think I'm just acting strange. I rarely get asked why."

"Your father must really care about you."

"He does. He didn't seem to realize how much until my mother died, but that's probably a pretty common revelation when a close family member passes through the veil."

Draco felt her sadness, but also could see the peace she'd come to on the issue.

"What about you, don't your parents care about you a lot as well?" Luna inquired innocently. She probably didn't even know they were both in prison. Draco normally would shut down at such a question and keep her from digging any deeper, but Luna was harmless and he felt comfortable telling her.

"My mother loves me unconditionally. She has always been encouraging and nurturing. My father has a much harsher personality and, while he loves to try and mold me into who he thinks he would love, I'm honestly not sure he's discovered for himself what love really is. He likes my mother, and he likes me, but I'm not sure he loves anyone but himself."

"That sounds rather difficult. But perhaps he loves you more than he realizes he does," she reasoned.

"I'll never know. He will be in Azkaban for the rest of his life. And my mother will be there for ten more years."

"That sounds very lonely," she told him, "Do you have other family to stay with or visit?"

"Only family that has been disowned… I've never met them and I don't believe there are many remaining."

"Perhaps you should get in touch with them."

"I thought about it," he reluctantly admitted, "But my parents would disown me and I owe them everything. I wouldn't have survived the war without their help."

"You said your mother loved you unconditionally. Why should who you associate with change that?"

"I think it would cause her undue pain. I just can't do that to her- not after all that she's been through for my father and I."

"I suppose I can understand that. Just don't let your life pass you by while you wait for them to come home. I can't imagine your mother would want that."

"I'll try not to."


	10. Whispering Worries

Disclaimer: _J.K. Rowling owns nearly everything._

* * *

After several hours of stargazing and watching the silvery strands of water as the fishes jumped upon the lake, Ginny turned to look at Harry. He looked a bit lost in space.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him.

"The future," he replied after a few moments of silence. Ginny wasn't sure she wanted to continue the conversation, but she knew her mind would take off with this if she didn't.

"What about it?" she asked.

"Just what it may hold and how I'd like to have my friends and you around for all of it."

"I don't think you need to worry about that, Harry. My mum would adopt you if she could."

"Maybe she won't need to. Maybe we'll make it and get married in a few years and we'll all be a big family together."

Ginny could feel the panic rushing to her face and she turned away before Harry noticed.

"Maybe," she replied a bit tightly.

She turned quickly and kissed him before hopping up and declaring that she was tired and needed to go to bed.

"Can I join you?" he joked.

"You know there are enchantments to keep any boys out of my room and any girls out of yours."

"We'll just have to find somewhere else then. Perhaps I could redecorate the shrieking shack and we could move in."

"Just where I always imagined spending the rest of my life!" she joked.

Luna left after she'd finished reading her magazine upside down and Draco returned to his book. Their conversation had taken a turn for more serious topics than he liked to discuss, but at least he'd gotten some of it off of his chest.

It was starting to amaze him how much he had changed over the past year or so. He had thought that during his sixth year, he had just been too distracted to care much about putting other people in the place. But his first seventh year at Hogwarts had left him still not caring much about it. He had attributed that to the stress of trying to keep the other death eaters and consequently Voldermort unsuspecting of how unhappy he really was. Snape had watched him with concern all year and he just hadn't been able to bring himself to care.

That wit and backlash he had used before he was assigned to kill Dumbledore was mostly gone. It came back occasionally, but mostly, he had to force it. It was like he was trying to convince himself that he hadn't changed more than convincing anyone else. Why should he care what anyone else really thought? Luna was right. His mother would love him no matter what and his father would never have a say in what he should or shouldn't do ever again.

Everything he'd ever thought was true about himself was crumbling around him, but somehow, he was eerily calm. He was just drained- after everything that happened, he realized her just didn't care anymore. The worst period of his life was over and anything else that came at him, he was sure he could handle. Why waste the rest of his time on pushing people away? He might as well enjoy being around this new group of people. He doubted he'd be able to let anyone in as much as he'd somehow let Luna in, but he could at least be nice and make a small effort to be slightly more than acquaintances with these people.

It was nearly ten when his first opportunity to test these new thoughts arrived. He heard voices and footsteps approaching from down the corridor outside the common room. He recognized Potter's voice first and assumed the girl with him was Ginny Weasley. He heard some smacking noises and then one set of footsteps retreated down the corridor. He was still pretending to read his book when he felt the cushions beneath him shift slightly as Ginny sat down in the place Luna had vacated.

People never just came and sat next to him. He, for once, wasn't sure how to react at all. His mind went blank and he looked at her over the top of his book. She was just staring off into space as though she didn't realize he was even there.

"Are you okay?" he asked her finally. His suspicion was confirmed when she gave a tiny little jump and jerked her head to stare at him. He watched her recover and could practically see the cogs turning in her head as she tried to find an explanation for not noticing him.

"Just a little confused," she admitted, evidently deciding on the truth. His immediate reaction to a potentially emotional girl was to escape, but he stopped himself. _Don't run away! This is your chance to see if you are right about yourself!_

"May I ask why?" he asked once he'd stopped squirming a little bit. She didn't seem to notice.

"Oh. Um…" she paused for several minutes before deciding what she wanted to share.

"It's just that Harry's been through so much. He's ready to settle down and get married and everything, but I'm not sure I am, I guess," she told him, her eyes still sort of glazed over. A few moments later and she let out an embarrassed gasp.

"Please don't tell _anyone_ I said that!" she begged. Perhaps his theory was correct- the thought to use this as blackmail hadn't even crossed his mind.

"I won't. Who would I tell anyways?" he responded feeling a bit relieved at his new revelation.

"Oh, thank you!" Ginny said with a small gasp of surprise.

"Maybe you should just talk to Harry…"

"I know I should, but I need to figure myself out first. I can't have a rational conversation until I know what I want… If I try to, I could lose our relationship and then find out that it was a mistake."

"So what are you going to do to figure it out?" He could do this. He could listen to people. And maybe, if he was a good enough listener, he wouldn't even have to tell them anything about himself.

"I don't know…" she replied, her voice changing to a tone very similar to Luna's regular one. At this, she went quiet again and stared off into space with that blank look again. Draco went back to reading his book and soon, he felt the couch reposition as she left the room.

"Thank you, Malfoy," he heard her practically whisper before the little round door to the girl's dormitories gently closed.


	11. Competition

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns nearly all of the characters, places, and even some of the plot used in this fanfiction.

AN: I apologize for the extended period of time it has taken me to post this next chapter. I've sat down to try and write it several times but with no success until now. I know what I want to do with the next one as well, so that shouldn't take too long to get posted. Please bear with me.

* * *

There was a bright flash of white light that nearly blinded him as a muggle box exploded in front of him. He was running hard along a street to try and get away from something. There was lightening crashing everywhere emanating from ominous clouds. He wasn't afraid of any of it; he just had to stay away from whatever it was he was running from. The streets were empty, but he barely noticed. All he could focus on was running. Someone stepped out into the street and blocked his way. Somehow, even though this faceless figure wasn't moving at all, he couldn't get around them. He stopped and stood before this person. He wasn't even winded from his run. His heartbeat was even. The figure began to giggle and then others joined it in the middle of the street giggling. His brain did a double take before he realized the sound was coming from outside of his dream.

He cracked open an eye to find a couple of first year girls perched at the end of the couch giggling at him. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. The book he'd been reading slid off his chest into the floor. Draco looked down at it disinterestedly before turning to glare at the young girls. They squealed and ran to a corner to huddle together and giggle some more. Draco really couldn't care less that they found it funny that he'd fallen asleep in the common room. In fact, he really couldn't care less about much of anything. The resolution he'd made the night before was still clear in his mind and he would try to follow it, but it was one of those days that his emotions seemed to be turned off.

"Good morning, Draco," Luna sang from a table across the room.

"Mmm. Morning," Draco replied groggily as he climbed through the boys badger hole. After a few short minutes spent throwing himself together, he escaped the earthy dungeon he would be calling home and joined everyone else in the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Morning," he said as he pulled out his chair at table 7B. No one even turned to look at him as they quickly said good morning back. Hermione, as always, was poring over a textbook while the others were focusing way too hard on their plates. He then remembered that Quidditch try outs were that day. Everyone was buzzing about it. Those that weren't trying out were discussing who they thought would be representing them. Those that were either were furiously eating or staring off into space with slightly green tinged skin. He definitely intended to try out and was fairly certain he would make the team. He didn't have to go up against Potter for Seeker, so he stood a pretty good chance.

After everyone had eaten, Professor McGonagall instructed everyone to go to the Quidditch Pitch for the day and that their classes were cancelled. Draco arrived to find four professors, one in each corner of the pitch and Madam Hooch in the center. Second years through seventh years were directed to a corner based on their dormitories. The first years were sent to Madam Hooch for flying lessons.

* * *

Ginny found herself and all of her dormitory companions in front of Professor Agave. She and Hermione stood next to one another in a huddle formed by their roommates. The boys were blocking their view in their attempts to get as close as possible.

"Boys, let the girls see what's going on... Use your manners. Let's all form a half circle around me so that you can all see and hear."

"That's better. Now, things at Hogwarts this year have been much different for you, I imagine. Quidditch will also change a little bit. Of course, as you know, you will have different teammates. But there will also be two leagues rather than just one. We will have our Varsity team and our Junior Varsity team. There will also be a sign up board for a non-competitive league that anyone who wishes to play in can do so. Because of this, there will be a match every weekend. Everyone will try out for every position and I will rank you all based upon these tryouts. Varsity will be composed of the best, Junior Varsity will be composed of the second best and there will be two alternates who show the most all around potential."

"Seventh years, you will be trying out first. First position to try out for is Beater, then Chaser, then Keeper, and then Seeker. Once you've finished with try outs, you will be free for the rest of the day. Then sixth years will audition and so on. Once the first years finish their flying lessons, they will try out. Tonight at 8 pm, we will hold a results ceremony here at the pitch and you will be presented with your robes."

"Let's get started. Please go change into practice robes in the changing rooms and return in half an hour."

The students all went to change and worry about their try outs. Several students who hadn't planned on trying out were nearly in tears. Hermione was as white as a sheet. Ginny patted her on the back and assured her she would be just fine. She only had to try after all, she didn't have to perform well and no one was going to make fun of her. Ginny watched the seventh years, but there weren't really any surprises. Draco did really well as Seeker and Chaser, but not so well at Beater. And Mandy would almost definitely be a Varsity Chaser. She admitted to Ginny the first night that she'd been practicing for it ever since she found out Hogwarts would be allowing her back. Hermione surprisingly didn't embarrass herself. She almost did well as Keeper. She wouldn't make the team or anything, but the past few years of being forced onto brooms and facing death so often had made her much better at Quidditch. However, she was still shaking out of fear when she finally dismounted.

Ron had already finished and had come to watch Hermione and cheer her on. She ran straight into his arms when she was done and he seemed to calm her down. Ginny could see Harry flying from across the pitch and felt a twinge of pride. He was so talented and beautiful to watch. Most of the students had stopped to watch him fly as well.

Once the seventh years were all done, they went to change back into their school robes and then went to the stands to watch. Ginny felt the butterflies forming but they settled when she saw Harry walking over towards her to show support. She liked to show off for him since he was so good. The competition gave her just a bit of extra motivation.

* * *

Draco watched the sixth years try out and noticed only a few. Ginny and Jessica both performed very well. Ginny was an excellent Seeker and Chaser but she excelled at everything else too. It was pretty impressive. Jessica was great at being a Keeper.

After the sixth and seventh years had finished up they all went to support their own groups in the stands nearest their corner of the pitch.

"We should all go to Hogsmeade tonight to celebrate," Jessica suggested. These girls all seemed so silly.

"I think that's a great idea. We can get anyone who's old enough to go and turn it into a really big party," Luna agreed. This girl was much more likely to cause trouble than Draco would have ever guessed. But if the entire school was going to be there, he wouldn't cop out tonight.

"I'm in," he agreed quickly before he could change his mind.

* * *

Everyone was sunburned and tired by the time 8:00 rolled around. They all walked back onto the pitch and stood around the edges waiting for the ceremony to begin. Professor McGonagall started it off by welcoming everyone and congratulating the professors who had come up with the new system for try outs. She told the first years that they had done very well for their first ever real lesson and then thanked a few more people before handing the platform over to Madam Hooch.

"Today was a wonderful day of Quidditch and camaraderie. It seemed everyone tried their best and did so fairly. That is exactly how the game should be played. We have made our decisions for the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams and we will announce them in just a moment. If your name is called, please take your place with the professor who led your try outs today, take your robes, and stand quietly. There will be pictures afterwards."

"I will begin with House A. For the positions of Beaters..." Ginny listened intently, but didn't know either of them. Finally, Madam Hooch got to Ginny's house. Silver and a third year boy were announced as the Beaters, Jessica got Keeper, and Mandy and a second year boy got two of the Chaser positions.

"We have a bit of an anomaly however, when it comes to the final Chaser and Seeker positions. There has been a tie between Mr. Draco Malfoy and Mrs. Ginny Weasley for both. After much deliberation, we have decided to let you work the issue out amongst yourselves. "

All of a sudden the quiet, excited chatter got much louder. Ginny wondered if Draco would gain villain status for the next few weeks as a result or if she would even though neither had done anything wrong. It definitely sounded like this one was being spun to be some epic competition between the two. They'd have to sort it out quickly to get everyone to calm down about it.

She strategically smiled at Draco and congratulated him. He returned both. After a few minutes of requests for attention, Madam Hooch returned to the task at hand. Harry was of course made Seeker and Ron was made Keeper. Ginny didn't really pay much attention to the other positions. She'd worry about it when the matches rolled around.

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading this fic. I really appreciate every one of you who takes the time to read!


End file.
